Alans

The Alans were an Iranian nomadic pastoral people who lived in the area around Gelonus in the Central Asian region of Scythia. Related to the Massagetae, they were known to be tall and blond, and they migrated westwards and became dominant among the Sarmatians on the Pontic Steppe. They were settled to the north of Black Sea, frequently raiding Parthia and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman Empire. From 215 to 250 AD, their power on the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Goths, and, after the Huns defeated the Goths in 375 AD, the Alans migrated westwards and crossed the Rhine in 406 AD. They settled in Orleans and Valence in France, and they later settled in Lusitania and Carthaginensis after crossing the Pyrenees into the Iberian Peninsula. In 418 AD, the Iberian Alans were soundly defeated by the Visigoths, and they subsequently surrendered to the Vandals. In 428 AD, the Alans and Vandals crossed into North Africa, where they founded a kingdom which endured until its conquest by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. The Alans who remained under Hunnic rule founded Alania, a powerful kingdom in the North Caucasus which was conquered by the Mongols during the 13th century. The Alans became the ancestors of the modern Ossetians.